I was in the office yesterday and I had one mission at lunchtime – find a decent Christmas sandwich that isn’t from a supermarket. I dragged a colleague around the whole of Spitalfields Market and we found only two – a boxing day sandwich I will make an effort to go back for and The Rudolph, which is a good name for a Christmas sandwich. Also, in the office I have an advent calendar from the CEO (M&S Where’s Wally) and an advent calendar won at a quiz night with people from work (Milky Bar). I hadn’t been to that office in December yet, so I had a cool 22 chocolates to eat yesterday as it was the 11^th. A good day for a Monday.

Smoked turkey, Brie, stuffing crumble and cranberry sauce on sourdough bread with a beef drip gravy dunk pot

The sandwich was handed to me like that and I figured taking it back to the office was a risk as it would’ve gone cold and solidified the melted cheese, so this was eaten on a table in the market whilst it was nice and hot and gooey. And boy was it gooey! The melted cheese was going everywhere, and it was great. Coupled with the dipping gravy, it was a messy lunch in public for a man with a beard and bad eating habits. Everything in this sandwich was good quality, but a standout for me was the crispy, golden bread.

Whilst eating it I thought to myself that I can’t remember the last time I had fried bread. I know, I know, I look like I have it every day. Technically, this bread was grilled, but you know what I mean – it’s that somehow impossible combination of greasy and crunchy that tastes great. The turkey, bacon, stuffing and cranberry was good as it was, but serving it hot with crunchy bread, melted cheese and gravy took this to another level. Maybe this is why I’ve become so jaded with the blog, too many off the shelf same old sandwiches served cold out of a fridge year after year after year. It’s time to move on, away from the safe and comfortable (and cold) and onto a brave new world of freshly prepared, sometimes hot, sandwiches!

I don’t have a review lined up for tomorrow yet, so come back later this week for presumably some old sandwich out of a fridge.